Paul Quinn College has a new team. Where their Tigers once ran,
students will pursue more productive goals.

The financially struggling southern Dallas school punted away
its costly football program four years ago. Now the playland is a
fledgling farm, a field of emerging greens.

"People don't realize how much a football field of food is,"
said Michael Sorrell, Paul Quinn president, standing near a goal
post and stretch of tomato plants, green fruit dangling from the
vines. "We're going to have so much fun."

And on Wednesday, Paul Quinn leaders, students, public officials
and representatives of PepsiCo, a partner in the project,
celebrated what will be called the Food for Good Farm with speeches
and a ceremonial planting.

"The Food for Good Farm is primarily two things," Sorrell told a
crowd of 100 or so. "It's a fully operational agricultural business
that promotes sustainable growing practices, stewardship and
community engagement. And two, it is an academic undertaking that
emphasizes social entrepreneurship to create social change.

"In other words, to do good and well simultaneously," he
said.

A 16-student team will begin working the crops and handle the
first harvest this summer. Niko Nkululeko, a freshman wearing a
fighting okra T-shirt, said he's ready for the opportunity. "I will
be part of something positive," he said after the speeches.

Others will follow. And production and management of the farm
will be included in some science, education and business courses,
particularly a year-long class in social enterprise to be required
of all freshmen beginning this fall.

"The farm will become an integrated part of the Paul Quinn
College experience," Sorrell said in an interview. "We think this
creates a wonderful learning experience."

Helping with that experience will be PepsiCo employees, who will
teach the social enterprise class and mentor students both in the
field and in selling and marketing their produce.

"We can equip students with the tools they need to succeed in
the workplace," said Amy Chen, project manager of PepsiCo's Food
for Good project.

Beginning with the Paul Quinn farm and a pilot effort in the
Jubilee Park neighborhood of East Dallas, the initiative will seek
to increase access to nutritious food in underserved areas, she
said.

A shortage of grocery stores and healthy food is a long-standing
problem for southern Dallas residents, including those living near
Paul Quinn in southeast Oak Cliff.

To address that situation, some of the farm's production will be
sold at a campus farmers market, some given to PepsiCo for its food
project, and some donated to churches, food banks or needy
individuals, Sorrell said. A goal is to sell about half of the
harvests to local grocery stores and restaurants, he said.

"We are in the middle of a food desert, and it's shameful that
people have to live this way," he said.

"We recognized there are things in this community that need to
be addressed," Sorrell said. Things such as obesity and hunger as
well as a lack of nutritious food.

"This is acknowledging the needs of the community and doing
something about it," he said. "This farm will be more important to
this community than some fleeting athletic glory."

The farm idea grew from a lunch conversation with Trammell Crow
Jr. about community gardens. A connection was made with PepsiCo, a
leading producer of diet-challenging soft drinks and snack foods,
which is working to improve health, increase job opportunities and
help bring about social change to struggling urban areas, Chen
said.

"Our mission is to transform communities," she said, through the
Food for Good project.

"The neighborhood around Paul Quinn is particularly challenged,"
she said. "There's something powerful about connecting people with
food and where food comes from."

In Jubilee Park, PepsiCo employees, led by workers from its
Frito-Lay headquarters in Plano, have been helping volunteers set
up a produce operation - from negotiating with suppliers to
managing and marketing the business. For now, fruits and vegetables
are sold from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every other Thursday at the Jubilee
Park community center.

The Food for Good project has six or so other groups in the
Dallas area on a waiting list for similar projects, she said.

"The vision is to provide folks of limited means with locally
grown produce at inexpensive prices," she said.

The Paul Quinn effort comes at a time when the school is hungry
for positive news.

The historically black college celebrated its 138 years of
existence, the last 20 in Dallas, last month with leaders vowing to
keep fighting for survival.

Paul Quinn began this school year with about 150 students, down
from 440 the previous fall. But enrollment this year has held
steady, Sorrell said last month.

The college has struggled since moving from Waco to Dallas and
last year lost its accreditation because of financial problems and
other reasons. The school remains accredited while it pursues a
federal lawsuit against the accrediting agency.

"We're not worrying about it," Sorrell said of the accreditation
matter. "We're going to be all right."